Road Bike - How Fast

iandennis

What's a good speed for a road bike ?

I went out this morning and did 20 miles on various local roads,most of the time I was doing about 18-20 mph but obviously slower uphill (6-7mph) and faster downhill (up to 32mph where I chickened out and started to brake).

What a good speed for an average fitness cyclist on level ground ? What about uphill ? Downhill I know i could go faster

Much faster on the secteur than on my mountain bike with slicks, but could feel the poor quality of the road surface. Next year might see me goto a full carbon bike if its better at dealing with poor surfaces and vibrations :?

father_jack

How long is a piece of string? On a good flat road, with no headwind, my casual cruising speed is 18mph, 22/23mph if I push a bit harder. Don't like thrashing it ie 1 mile sprint, a bit pointless.

Depends on the road also, really bumpy and you're fighting it.

Keith1983

Lots of variables there mate. I'm a complete beginner but on the same rout I've varied between 15 and 19mph over 11 miles. It can deend on the weather, traffic, traffic lights, wind, when I've eaten etc. The trick is not to worry too much about other people but to track your performance and try and get improvements. What you need to do to get improvements will get harder and more expensive as you improve but don't get hung up on what others say as most feel the need to do a bit of willy waving and talk complete rubbish anyway!

MrChuck

There was a lengthy thread a while back about average speeds- some people posted pretty big numbers (20+) and others called BS. IIRC it turned out the people with apparently high averages really meant the speed they could maintain on on the flat bits, while everybody else meant the average their computer reads when they get back home which is obivously going to be a lot lower.

So yeah, take it with a pinch of salt.

But anyway, according to MyTracks my 37 mile ride the other week had a moving average of 17.4 mph over the whole route, with just under 1000m of elevation gain. That was at a reasonable effort but not out to set a record.

Which means... pretty much nothing!

Simon G

I reckon that on a typical lumpy (ish) ride between 20 and 50 miles, a really decent average speed (as stated by a properly calibrated computer which is set to measure 'moving' time), is anywhere between 17mph and 20mph. Sure, we've all got home with the odd 15-16mph shocker when we've been totally busting our balls, but 17mph+ has a sense of haste about it and requires a decent pair of lungs and legs!

Does that help?

scoob49

Keith1983 wrote:

Lots of variables there mate. I'm a complete beginner but on the same rout I've varied between 15 and 19mph over 11 miles. It can depend on the weather, traffic, traffic lights, wind, when I've eaten etc. The trick is not to worry too much about other people but to track your performance and try and get improvements. What you need to do to get improvements will get harder and more expensive as you improve but don't get hung up on what others say as most feel the need to do a bit of willy waving and talk complete rubbish anyway!

POSSIBLY THE BEST REPLY I HAVE SEEN ON THE FORUM. I COMPLETELY AGREE. ENJOY YOURSELF AND DON'T GET TO HUNG UP ON OTHER PEOPLES DATA AND STATS. I DID THIS INITIALLY AND NOW I JUST WANNA RIDE! YOU GET BETTER THE MORE MILES YOU DO!

MountainMonster

Just going to echo what other people have said. You arn't them, and they arn't you. Some are pros, some are even less active than you. If they rode the exact same route you ride, then it could be possible to make comparisons, but other than that don't worry.

Just focus on you, and feeling that you did well!

Keith1983

Cheers Scoob49!

Stone Glider

Went out this morning, in the wind and averaged 22kph. I am chuffed, that is the fastest I have ridden in eighteen months. Yes, that is quite slow but for me, that is a PB since my health fail

What I am trying to say is that it doesn't matter what speed others are doing (unless you are in a race) your performance/improvement is what counts. Relax, enjoy.

ForumNewbie

Agree there are a lot of factors as mentioned - another is age. I'm in my 50s and starting to take cycling more seriously and starting to see good improvements in my fitness and average speeds, so i'm pleased with my progress, but I ill can't match the average speeds quoted on here which seem incredibly fast.

ShutUpLegs

ForumNewbie wrote:

Agree there are a lot of factors as mentioned - another is age. I'm in my 50s and starting to take cycling more seriously and starting to see good improvements in my fitness and average speeds, so i'm pleased with my progress, but I ill can't match the average speeds quoted on here which seem incredibly fast.

Convert them from kph and it all makes sense.

Stone Glider

Quite

piquet

Simon G wrote:

I reckon that on a typical lumpy (ish) ride between 20 and 50 miles, a really decent average speed (as stated by a properly calibrated computer which is set to measure 'moving' time), is anywhere between 17mph and 20mph. Sure, we've all got home with the odd 15-16mph shocker when we've been totally busting our balls, but 17mph+ has a sense of haste about it and requires a decent pair of lungs and legs!

Does that help?

It all depends on terrain and traffic conditions.

From home i do a run to Richmond park, completely flat to the park, 3 circuits and home. 29.9 miles. Sped round the park 16-17mph. The best average for the 30 miles i have managed is 14.4mph - warm up/warm down, junctions, lights, traffic etc etc

comparing average speeds on randomly and widely varying routes is not apples and oranges it is apples and fish!

Herbsman

Exactly 753.776mph

passout

For me personally, on the rides I tend to do (very hilly & fairly long) - anything over 15mph is OK, anything over 17 is great.

When riding on the flats with no headwind anything over 20mph for a prologed period is alright.

JamieW

on saturday i did a nice little 45 mile ride on which i averaged 22mph.......... but i was on tt bike practicing pacing for 50 mile and 12hr tt's by generally riding at around my tempo pace. this is obviously way above average! i could say that i do 25mph+ again that is only over 10 miles.........

generally on the same route anywhere between 16-20 depending on the wind and size of last poop.

agree with everyone else above ^^^ dont listen to people saying i always average 22mph and i dont even break a sweat. go have fun and do what you want. have a fast ride have a slow ride. just make sure that you enjoy it and get back in one piece!!!

CiB

A good speed should be a bit faster than whatever you're currently doing, up to a point clearly. I always aim to keep the computer showing 20+ (knowing that it will drop on climbs etc) but it's my target to aim for. And just because the wife once had a disagreement with one of her group of chums defending us all from the 'bloody cyclists are all too slow and get in the way' mantra and my OH pointed out that 30mph isn't that slow for a cyclist and that I usually do that on a ride, I make a point of exceeding 30mph on every ride. Childish? Check. Pointless? Check. Worth it? Check.

Most of my rides come out at an average of 17 - 20, 17 being not bad, 18 OK, 19 good effort and 20+ is satisfying. Each to their own though. A lot of cyclists probably sniff at sub-20 averages.

vorsprung

I was showing my mate Dave my new-ish Specialized Roubaix

"So what speed does it go at? About 40?", he asked

If only I was Turbo Tom